This month is the 10th anniversary of London’s congestion charge. It was not quite the first such scheme (Singapore had been running theirs for almost 10 years) but it was certainly one of the earliest internationally visible Smarter City projects before the term had even been invented. So what can we learn 10 years on from their experience?

Prevailing opinion at the time was that it was an audacious experiment. Most people expected it not to work, & certainly not to be popular. But if it was a success, it would establish London as a pioneering city, with many others in the UK and elsewhere keen to emulate it.

How wrong that opinion was! Congestion charging has been a success with remarkably few technical problems and an acquiescent, if not wildly enthusiastic, public. It had an immediate impact on traffic volumes and congestion and London is a cleaner city as a result. Yet the follow on wave of implementations has not happened. Why not?

I think the reason is in how the benefits from congestion charging are delivered and communicated to the public. The economic case for congestion charging is hard to dispute – it is cheaper to implement than road building programmes and the benefits of reduced congestion, from fewer accidents, increased mobility and fewer emissions are considerable and proven. Yet these benefits are not clearly visible to the public, who only experience the inconvenience of adapting to a new way of paying for their commute. When proposed schemes are put to the public (as they were in Manchester, Edinburgh and West London) the public voted strongly against. It takes a particular brave mayor to risk upsetting public opinion, whatever the ultimate gain to the city as a whole.

So for significant smarter city projects like congestion charging to proceed as more than vanity projects of bold mayors, more work is needed to convince the public of its benefits. There are signs that this may be happening….As technology in related areas like telematics, car to car communications, automated parking systems etc progresses, the creation of a digital city road infrastructure can be seen as an enabler to drive innovation and new business opportunities. Many governments, including the US, UK, Germany, S Korea, Japan and Singapore have identified the potential of investing in traffic management and information services to drive business investment and jobs. There is a race to lead these industries of the future. But to join the race, let alone win it, cities will need first to convince their public that it’s worth it.